Sleep And Skills: The Impact On Employee Training And Learning

How Sleep Impacts Our Skills Acquisition

During a recent trip to Costa Rica, I did my fair share of slothing around in hammocks. I also set my mind (and somewhat out-of-shape body) to a lifelong ambition of learning to surf. After an initial 90-minute lesson full of frustration, consistently falling backwards into the foam and not catching a wave, I decided to call it a day.

I headed back to my apartment, fiddled with my phone reading a few L&D thought leader posts on LinkedIn, and swiftly drifted off to dreamland in the hammock. The following day after a good night’s sleep, not being one to give up on things too easily, I decided to take up the surf school’s offer of free board hire for the rest of the week. As I paddled frantically in the crest of a wave and leapt to my feet at what seemed the right moment, something quite magical happened, I stayed upright and surfed for the first time!

So, what gives? After such a torturous episode of repeated failure, even with an expert coach by my side, I couldn’t manage to stand up on the board. Yet with nothing more than some good rest, I cracked it and rode my first wave (well… ripple). This got me thinking; how does sleep affect our ability to learn new skills?

The Science Of Sleep And Memory Formation

Research by Matthew Walker, professor of neuroscience and psychology at UC Berkeley, detailed in his book Why we Sleep highlights the crucial role sleep plays in learning and memory. In one study, Walker found an average 20% speed increase and 35% accuracy improvement in motor-skill learning after participants slept for 8 hours, without extra practice [1]. His key findings relevant to corporate training are:

1. Sleep before learning prepares the brain to form new memories effectively. Ensuring employees are well-rested before training can boost their ability to acquire new information.
2. Sleep after learning acts as a “save button” for cementing recently learned material. A good night’s sleep following training significantly improves memory retention and skill mastery.

My personal experience of being able to surf after a good night’s sleep is not just a coincidence. It aligns with the groundbreaking research conducted by Walker on the vital role of sleep in learning and memory formation.

Walker’s findings reveal that sleep is not merely a passive state but an active process essential for consolidating and cementing newly acquired knowledge and skills in our brains. It acts as a powerful memory enhancer, allowing us to better retain and recall what we have learned.

Preparing The Brain: The Role Of Sleep Before Learning

One of Walker’s key discoveries is that sleep before learning refreshes the brain’s ability to form new memories effectively. This means that ensuring we are well-rested before attempting to learn something new or attending a training session, can significantly enhance our capacity to acquire and retain that information or skill.

The non-REM stages of sleep seem to prime the brain for good learning the next day. If you haven’t slept, your ability to learn new things could drop by up to 40%.

This isn’t limited to adult education or employee development. A shocking revelation for me was finding out about the phenomenon of bed poverty, especially surprising here in the western world, with some one million families are being affected by this in the UK alone [2]. As a reaction to this situation, schools in the UK have teamed up with charities like Zarach to provide beds to schoolchildren who are turning up to lessons sleep deprived, due to not having a suitable bed. This further highlights the importance of sleep and education.

Cementing Knowledge: Sleep’s Impact After Learning

Even more crucially, Walker’s research highlights the immense benefit of sleep after learning. He likens it to clicking the save button on the newly created memories and skills. A good night’s sleep following a learning session acts as a powerful memory aid, helping to solidify and cement what we have just learned.

This explains why, after a frustrating day of repeatedly failing to surf, I was able to succeed the next day following a good night’s rest. Sleep allowed my brain to process and consolidate the techniques I had been practicing, leading to improved ability and performance.

Mastering Skills With The Power Of Sleep

Walker’s research goes beyond just memorizing facts; it demonstrates the profound impact of sleep on skill acquisition. The consolidation and strengthening of neural pathways that occurs during sleep allows the brain to better integrate and refine newly learnt skills, leading to improved performance and mastery [3]. He provides compelling evidence that sleep plays a crucial role in accelerating the process of learning skills, helping individuals progress from novice to proficient levels more efficiently.

In the study conducted at Harvard Medical School, Walker and his colleague Robert Stickgold quantified the impact of sleep on skill performance. Participants who slept for 8 hours after initially learning a specific skill demonstrated an average 20% increase in speed and a 35% reduction in errors, without any additional practice.

These metrics highlight the tangible benefits of sleep for skill mastery, simply due to the effects of sleep on the brain’s ability to process and refine newly learned skills, underscoring its potential to significantly enhance the effectiveness of corporate training programs focused on developing procedural or technical skills.

Sleep Seals The Deal

While the old saying “practice makes perfect” still holds true, Walker’s findings suggest that sleep acts as a complementary force, sealing the deal on the skills being practiced. Repeated practice lays the foundation for skill acquisition, but it is during sleep cycles that the brain consolidates and optimizes those neural pathways, leading to heightened long-term retention of knowledge and proficiency in practiced skills.

This has significant implications for corporate training programs, particularly those focused on teaching procedural skills like operating machinery, software applications, or sales techniques. By encouraging employees to prioritize quality sleep, companies can potentially increase the rate at which their workforce masters these essential skills.

This reinforces the importance of not only providing opportunities for hands-on practice but also ensuring that employees have time to rest and sleep after intensive skill-based training sessions. By doing this, companies can maximize the effectiveness of their training programs.

Addressing Learning Challenges With A Good Night’s Rest

In addition to enhancing overall learning and skill acquisition, Walker’s research suggests that sleep can be a powerful tool for overcoming specific learning challenges or plateaus. If an employee is struggling to grasp a particular concept or master a certain skill, taking a break and getting a good night’s sleep can often help them overcome that hurdle.

Sleep allows the brain to reorganize and consolidate the learning material in a more efficient manner, potentially revealing new connections or insights that were previously elusive. This aligns with my own experience of initially struggling with surfing but finding success after a night’s rest.

The adage “sleep on it” takes on a literal meaning in this context. If employees find themselves repeatedly hitting a wall while trying to learn a new skill or procedure, encouraging them to step away, get a good night’s sleep, and revisit the task the following day could lead to a breakthrough.

Similarly, if employees have plateaued in their learning or skill development, despite continued practice, incorporating strategic sleep breaks into their training schedule could help them push past that stagnation. The restorative effects of sleep may provide the necessary reset and reorganization of neural pathways, allowing for renewed progress and mastery.

By aligning training schedules with these sleep-learning principles, companies can enhance employees’ learning outcomes, skill acquisition, and overall performance. Prioritizing quality sleep, especially around training periods, can lead to a more skilled workforce. Let’s explore how you can do that…

Optimizing Training With Rest-Friendly Strategies

Armed with this scientific understanding of the sleep-learning connection, companies can take proactive steps to optimize their training programs and create a sleep-supportive work culture. When designing training curricula, companies should consider using sleep-friendly schedules that allow for rest periods between intensive learning sessions and work shifts. This could involve spreading skill-based training over multiple days or scheduling shorter, more digestible sessions with built-in breaks.

Careful consideration should also be given to the timing of training and rest periods. For instance, scheduling more demanding or skill-focused training earlier in the day, followed by opportunities for rest or lighter activities in the afternoon, could align with the natural circadian rhythms and promote better sleep quality.

In addition to adjusting training schedules, companies should create a work environment that supports employees in getting good quality sleep. This could involve educating employees on sleep hygiene practices, providing resources or workshops on stress management and healthy sleep habits, and encouraging leaders to model behaviors that prioritize adequate sleep [4]. Organizations should create a culture that values and supports the pursuit of adequate sleep as a performance-enhancing practice.

Is Sleep The Ultimate Hack For Learning And Skill Mastery?

Sleep can be viewed as the ultimate learning hack, a natural and highly effective way to enhance skill acquisition and boost overall learning potential. In the corporate training context, embracing sleep as a hack for learning could involve implementing strategies such as:

1. Encouraging employees to prioritize quality sleep, especially around intensive training periods.
2. Providing resources and education on optimizing sleep hygiene for better rest.
3. Designing training schedules that incorporate strategic sleep breaks for memory consolidation.

By harnessing the scientifically proven benefits of sleep, companies can hack the learning process, enabling their workforce to learn faster, retain information better, and master new skills more efficiently, driving productivity, innovation, and overall organizational success.

Embrace The Sleep And Learning Connection For A Competitive Edge

Numerous studies across different areas like physical skills, factual memory, and learning procedures all back up Walker’s conclusions. Researchers from various universities have found evidence that sleep plays a vital role in helping us learn, retain information, and master skills. The wealth of supportive research from multiple expert groups reinforces how crucial sleep is for effective learning and peak performance.

Companies that make sleep a priority and use its connection to learning can get a big advantage over competitors. If they design training programs based on how sleep aids learning, their employees will be able to pick up new knowledge and skills more easily. At the same time, this approach promotes overall wellness and productivity.

As businesses aim to build a skilled, adaptable workforce ready for future challenges, they should embrace sleep’s power to boost learning and memory. By creating a culture that values quality sleep and builds sleep-friendly practices into training, companies can unleash their employees’ full potential. This drives innovation while keeping them ahead of rivals in their industries. No need to stress over learning–just sleep on it.

Further Reading On This Topic

There are several other studies and research that support and corroborate the importance of sleep for learning and memory consolidation:

1. Rasch and Born (2013)
   This study from the University of Tübingen in Germany found that sleep facilitates the formation of new procedural memories, which are crucial for skill learning. During sleep, the brain actively replays and reinforces newly learned skills, leading to improved performance upon waking.
2. Stickgold, et al. (2000)
   Walker’s colleague Robert Stickgold and his team at Harvard demonstrated that sleep plays a critical role in the consolidation of motor skills [5]. Participants who slept after learning a finger-tapping task showed significant improvement in speed and accuracy compared to those who stayed awake.
3. Ellenbogen, et al. (2007)
   Researchers from the National Academy of Sciences found that sleep enhances the integration of newly learned information into existing knowledge networks, leading to better retention and recall [6]. This process is facilitated by the reactivation and reorganization of memories during sleep.
4. Spencer, et al. (2006)
   A study from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst showed that sleep facilitates the extraction of explicit rules and patterns from implicitly learned information, suggesting its role in transforming learned material into more usable knowledge [7].
5. Wilhelm, et al. (2011)
   Research from the University of Tübingen demonstrated that sleep contributes to the stabilization and strengthening of newly formed memories, making them more resistant to interference and forgetting over time.

References:

[1] Sleep and the Time Course of Motor Skill Learning

[2] What is bed poverty?

[3] What are neural pathways?

[4] Mastering Sleep Hygiene: Your Path to Quality Sleep

[5] Visual discrimination learning requires sleep after training

[6] Human relational memory requires time and sleep

[7] Sleep-Dependent Consolidation of Contextual Learning